


The Name of the Game (Is Love)

by overlymetaromantic



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, I'm not sure if that's tagged right but oh well, M/M, Nagisa is a little shit and gets what he wants, Rin continues to hate his life, but at least everyone is still friends in the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-05-03
Packaged: 2018-01-20 22:00:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1527230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overlymetaromantic/pseuds/overlymetaromantic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perhaps it comes with being the baby of the family, but Nagisa has always been very good at getting what he wants. A well-timed smile and a carefully worded quip, and he can get the toughest person to melt like butter in his hands. It’s remarkable how easily people quail under the weight of unbridled enthusiasm, and Nagisa has the practice down to an art.</p>
<p>And right now, he wants Rin.</p>
<p>(Or, a pseudo-AU in which Nagisa decides to get shit done before anyone has time to go through their respective character arcs, and proves to be very good at his job.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So apparently the only way to get me to write things is to take a kink meme prompt and then work on it for months without actually posting anything anywhere, until it is sad and outdated but I spent so fucking long on it that it feels like a waste to not post at all (prompt originally [here](http://iwatobiswimclub.dreamwidth.org/893.html?thread=316029#cmt316029)!)
> 
> Oh well. Either way, I honestly had a lot of fun writing this, so if you decide to give a read, I hope you enjoy! The rest of the parts will be put up sometime later this week :D

Perhaps it comes with being the baby of the family, but Nagisa has always been very good at getting what he wants. A well-timed smile and a carefully worded quip, and he can get the toughest person to melt like butter in his hands. It’s remarkable how easily people quail under the weight of unbridled enthusiasm, and Nagisa has the practice down to an art.

And right now, he wants Rin.

His memories of summertimes spent at the old swim club are some of his fondest, and he’d missed swimming with his friends something fierce all the way through middle school. It’s probably his biggest achievement to date managing to convince Haru and Makoto to revive the past and start their club anew, but as time’s gone by it’s become more and more obvious things just aren’t the same with Rin swimming for another team. Now, Nagisa knows better than to have unrealistic expectations of Rin spontaneously transferring schools so they really could be their old swim team again; he’d be perfectly happy if they could all just be friends again, running down the same path together, each content with the others’ company just like old times. But Rin’s been determined to have nothing to do with them since coming back from Australia--he just wants to race Haru, and anything that’s not that can just cease to exist, for all he seems to care. Rin has done nothing but blow Nagisa off since they reunited, and that’s clearly the biggest obstacle to Nagisa’s desire to get the whole gang back together.

So, he figures, that should be the reasonable first step:  get Rin to stop ignoring him.

***

His opportunity comes when he convinces Gou to convince Samezuka’s swim team captain that they should hold a joint practice again, since Rei can swim now and they should totally show that off! He’s a little surprised how easily his argument works, and briefly wonders if maybe Gou just wants an excuse to talk to Samezuka’s captain as much as he wants an excuse to talk to her, but he figures that’ll be another project for another day. For now, his goal is to get to Rin.

Which proves to be distinctly difficult. Nagisa decided to start small, see how far his usually persistence could take him in order to gauge how much extra effort recruiting Rin’ll take. And thus far, he’s found himself on the receiving of end of an escalating number of glares, and nothing beyond that; all Rin does is break free of his touches, walk away without so much as a word aimed back towards Nagisa. After a while, he seems to be flat-out tuning out Nagisa’s constant chirps of “Rin-chan, Rin-chan!” leaving Nagisa to sulk, ultimately alone, at the edge of the pool. This is clearly going to be a lot of work.

“Nagisa, are you okay?” he hears from above, and Nagisa tilts his head up and back to see Makoto peering down at him, concern written all over his face. It’s only natural Makoto would be the first to notice. Nagisa gives him a bright smile.

“I’m fine, Mako-chan!” he says cheerfully, for as frustrating as Rin is he expected nothing less, and there’s really no use in feeling anything less than fine about it. “Just trying to figure a few things out.”

Makoto looks more confused than reassured by Nagisa’s answer, but it can’t really be helped; Makoto’s the type to worry no matter what, and there’s very few ways Nagisa could explain that he’s bringing Rin back without causing the poor guy more anxiety than he needs. So he smiles and stays vague instead.

“Well, if you’re sure,” Makoto eventually says, finally smiling back, and Nagisa returns it just as bright before his attention is caught by the Samezuka swim team moving to pack up their things.

One more shot, he decides with a nod. It can’t hurt to take one more shot.

And so he leaps up, cups his hands over his mouth and yells as loudly as he can across the pool.

“ _RINRIN!!_ ” he calls out, cheerful and _loud_ , and the reaction that follows is truly a sight to behold.

Rin all but pirouettes on the spot, spinning around so fast Nagisa is surprised he doesn’t fall, face as red as his hair. His eyes dart about as he tries to locate the culprit, and Nagisa doesn’t even bother to hide his glee when Rin looks his way and his entire posture stiffens with anger and embarrassment. There’s clearly an internal battle going on in Rin’s head over whether he should lash out at Nagisa or not, so Nagisa decides to make it easier on him and moves away from Makoto--who he can feel staring at him, dumbstruck--and over to Rin.

“You finally responded, RinRin!” he says just loud enough that Rin’s teammates can hear, and the looks he manages to draw are enough to guarantee that Rin’ll _have_ to respond to him now. He decides it can’t hurt to give him a little more fuel to respond _to_ first, though.

“I was afraid you’d gone deaf, RinRin,” he goes on, and Rin actually bristles where he stands, his entire being radiating unhappiness. “You hadn’t been responding, I was started to get worried!”

One of Rin’s eyebrows twitches down, and Nagisa knows he’s won. “Don’t call me that,” Rin growls. Nagisa looks up innocently.

“Call you what? RinRin?” Rin’s face goes even redder than before, and Nagisa can’t help but admire it for just a moment before pressing on. “But that’s your name!”

“It’s not-” Rin doesn’t quite catch himself in time to prevent himself from shouting, and anyone who hadn’t be paying attention before certainly ought to be now. He shoots a ferocious glare at some poor first year he happens to catch staring before redirecting it back to Nagisa, but Nagisa’s already making his next move.

“Well you weren’t responding to Rin-chan, what else I am supposed to call you?” he asks with wide eyes to contrast Rin’s increasing glare.

“Call me my name!” Rin snaps, but rather than quail under it like Rin wants, Nagisa smiles brightly instead.

“So I’ll just call you Rin-” he pauses for effect, holds the anticipation because he knows Rin can feel it too, can see it in the vein twitching in his neck, and he revels in the moment before finishing it off with a bright, “-Rin!”

The effect is immediate:  Rin lunges forward, and while Nagisa pulls of an initially successful dodge, he fails to account for Rin immediately turning back around and grabbing Nagisa from behind, and Nagisa finds himself with an arm locked firmly around his neck and Rin growling angry nothings in his ear. Nagisa wiggles in protest, his back rubbing up against Rin’s chest--he almost thinks he could get used to the sensation, but right now, the chokehold is a little more important to him than that. He lets out a whine.

“RinRiiiiiiiiin, you’re hurting meee,” he manages to get out before Rin tightens his grip.

“Stop calling me that!” Rin’s voice echoes throughout the pool, and Nagisa doesn’t even have to try to turn around to know how flustered he must be. He can’t help it, he starts to laugh, even as he struggles to breathe.

“But if I can’t call you Rin-chan and I can’t call you RinRin, what should I say instead? Rin-tan? Rin-kun? Rin-sama?”

“How about you just stop fucking talking to me, have you ever thought about that?”

“But I don’t want to do that!” Nagisa protests, and for a split second he’s almost positive Rin loosens his hold, but the relief doesn’t last long and Nagisa hastily returns to tapping out. “What if I just call you Rin, then! Is that what you want? Rin,” he drops all the teasing out of his tone, and to his surprise, Rin suddenly lets go and backs away. Nagisa immediately whirls around:  Rin’s looking at him like he’s never seen him properly before, and Nagisa breaks out into a bright grin that only seems to disarm him further. Nagisa entirely fails to hide his utter delight.

“No, I don’t think I’ll do that,” he says, “in the end, Rin-chan suits you best!”

Rin just continues to stare at Nagisa, his face still pink, before he turns away with a scoff. “Do what you want,” he mutters at last before stalking off, and Nagisa lets out a triumphant whoop; he’s going to have bruising all over his neck and collarbone but Rin’s little twitch of annoyance at the sound guarantees that Nagisa is definitely going to count this as a victory.

***

It’s a true stroke of luck when he runs across Samezuka’s captain on his way home from a trip to the sporting goods store--he’s taken it on himself to make sure Rei has a strong supply of speedos if he ever finds himself in need of a swimsuit again--and Nagisa knows better than to let a chance like this slip through his fingers. So he calls out a greeting and races over before the captain can get away.

“Oh hey! It’s Hazuki, isn’t it? You caused quite a stir at the last practice!”

Mikoshiba Seijuurou, as Nagisa relearns his name to be (“So, Sei-chan, then!” he chirps, causing the captain to nearly drop his bag), keeps up easy conversation as Nagisa carefully reworks his route home so that they don’t have to part ways until absolutely necessary. Despite his somewhat mean looks, Seijuurou is a surprisingly enthusiastic conversationalist, and Nagisa can see why Gou has an interest in him, even she may not be fully aware of that yet. They cheerfully debate the pros and cons of specializing in one specific stroke, and Nagisa makes sure to speak high praises of Makoto to boost his presence as a captain, and by the time Nagisa absolutely has to start doubling back to go home, he thinks he’s lowered Seijuurou’s defenses enough to bring up Rin.

“Oh! Before I go!” he exclaims brightly, “I was wondering, you’d have Rin-chan’s number, right?” Seijuurou quirks an eyebrow at the question, but nods. “Great! You wouldn’t happen to have it on you, by chance?”

“Technically, yeah, but I’m not so sure I should go out handing Matsuoka’s number like that, bad reflection on being captain and whatnot,” Seijuurou says, good-natured but cautious. “Wait, why don’t you have it, didn’t you all grow up together?” he adds, but Nagisa waves him off.

“He changed numbers after going to Australia,” he says casually, “but don’t worry, it’s not for me! It’s actually for Gou-chan,” he smiles, and the effect is immediate.

“For Gou-kun?” Seijuurou straightens up almost imperceptibly, eyes widening and cheeks turning every so slightly pink. Nagisa pretends not to notice.

“Yup! Apparently Rin-chan got ahold of her phone last time they saw each other and deleted his number, and since it always showed up as Rin-chan and not, well, his number, she can’t remember what it is and he won’t give it to her. So, think you can help?”

Seijuurou is clearly having a internal battle over this:  maintain captain professionalism, or seize the chance to potentially get in good with the girl he likes. Nagisa decides to give him a little more incentive, and gives a knowing grin.

“I’ll tell you what,” he says slyly, placing a finger on his lips, “how about you give me your number too, and I’ll make sure to give it to Gou-chan as well, so she can give a _personal_ thank you for helping her out with this.”

Seijuurou pauses for a split second longer, but it seems to be due less to hesitation and more to the apparently overwhelming idea of _Gou-kun having his number_ , and he looks Nagisa directly in the eye, not even bothering to hide his pink cheeks, and nods.

“Done.”

***

Rin doesn’t know how Nagisa got ahold of his number, but he does know he is completely prepared to kill the person who gave it to him. Nagisa is difficult enough to deal with on the rare occasions they cross paths nowadays; him having twenty-four hour access to Rin is quickly becoming a new personal hell.

_Rin-chan!!  ヽ(＾Д＾)ﾉ_

_Rin-chan Rin-chan Rin-chaaaaaaaan  (/^▽^)/_

_R ☆ I ☆ N ☆ C ☆ H ☆ A ☆ N_

_Rin-chan did you know sharks are older than dinosaurs???  w(°ｏ°)w I didnt isnt it cool!!!_

_Rin-chan look its a penguin!!_   
_(^v^)_   
_ <( )>_   
_w_

_(ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Rin-chan!!!!!!!_

Rin has come dangerously close to outright destroying his phone multiple times; in fact, the only thing holding him back is the inevitable rage he’d face from his mother if he actually carried the action through. So he’s stuck with a constantly buzzing phone--even silencing it does no good, because all it means is when he does finally get around to checking it, his inbox will just be full of spam from Nagisa, and ultimately it’s a pain in the ass having to delete them all whether he can hear when they arrive or not.

The buzzing is still really fucking annoying, though.

He doesn’t know what it is that finally causes him to snap. It’s a quiet afternoon after school; Nitori is curled up in his bunk, taking a nap, and Rin is trying to study, honest to God he is, but every three minutes, on the dot, his phone buzzes with a new message, each new one more irritating than the last despite the fact that he’s not even bothering to check them at this point. He curls further and further in on himself, tries to block the noise out, but he’s reread the same paragraph five times in a row, and he loses his place with every new buzz, and finally he just grabs it, flips it open, and hits reply without even reading whatever inane text Nagisa has sent him.

_STOP FUCKING TEXTING ME_ , he pounds out, slams the phone shut, and throws it as far across the desk as he can with a bang that’s sure to wake Nitori, but he’s beyond caring by now.

There’s a period of blessed silence as three minutes tick on into four, and Rin almost lets out a sigh of relief when the buzzing suddenly kicks up again.

He doesn’t even know why he checks to see what it says, practically boiling with anger by now, but he lunges forward and seizes the damned thing like it’s its own fault he’s being put through this, and nearly breaks it in half when he rips it open.

_I got a reply!! (ノ＞▽＜。)ノ Youre so mean Rin-chan ignoring me like that (´Д｀。) I was starting to think I might have the wrong number!!_

Rin stares at the message with disgust, though the impact is someone dampened by the fact that there’s no one around to see it. And then, he writes out another reply.

_This is the wrong number._

A few minutes of silence, and then a reply.

_~I don’t believe you~ ♪♪ o(｀ω´*)o_

And somehow, that’s all it takes for Rin to completely abandon his physics textbook, and instead spend his entire evening picking a fight over the phone.

***

Apparently, Rin learned a thing or two about how fruitless it is to try to argue against Nagisa, because the next time Samezuka and Iwatobi have a joint practice--once again courtesy of Gou; Nagisa kept his promise of handing over the number, with a smile and a wink that immediately tipped Gou off as to whom it belonged to--Rin is nowhere in sight.

According to Seijuurou, Rin called in sick. Nagisa highly doubts this is true--there was one memorable incident in grade school where Rin tried to attend practice despite having come down with chicken pox--but there’s nothing he can do about it, and he puffs out his cheeks in a pout. He can’t exactly rekindle their friendship if Rin isn’t around to appreciate the effort.

Then he catches sight of the boy Nagisa remembers provided Rei with his first speedo the first time Samezuka leant their pool; he looks strangely lonely off in a corner by himself, and Nagisa realizes it’s because up until now he’s always seen him trailing after Rin:  kind of like what Nagisa used to do when they were kids, Nagisa thinks with a small laugh, and he makes his way over.

“Hi there! You’re Rin-chan’s friend, right?” he says as way of greeting, and the boy nearly jumps out of his swim trunks.

“H-Hazuki-san!” he blurts out, looking strangely guilty, as though standing off on his own is some kind of a crime. Nagisa just smiles at him.

“I heard Rin-chan wasn’t feeling good, do you know if that’s true?” he asks while the boy still seems to be trying to come to terms with the fact that Nagisa’s talking to him. The boy blinks, and then hastily straightens up.

“I’m not sure,” he says quickly, like he’s trying to make up for the time he spent flustered by Nagisa’s sudden appearance, “I mean, the captain said he was sick, but he seemed okay this morning...He did tell me to go on ahead to practice without him, though, so I guess he really might not have been feeling well. I hope it’s not too bad,” he trails off, sounding worried, but Nagisa’s pretty much positive now that Rin’s just trying to get out of joint practice.

This does, however, seem to imply that they’re roommates. Nagisa can’t quite keep back a grin at his stroke of luck; even if Rin doesn’t decide to creep on the practice he’s trying so hard to skip, he’s almost guaranteed to hear back from his roommate what he in turn heard from Nagisa. So he gives a dramatic sigh and a turn, and flops against the wall, making the poor boy jump again in surprise.

“Ahh, that’s too bad, I was looking forward to seeing him today,” Nagisa says with another sigh, but he quickly rectifies it with a smile. “By the way, I think it’s a little unfair you seem to know my name, and I can’t remember yours!”

“Ah, I’m sorry!” the boy hastily apologizes, waving his hands about. “I’m Nitori Aiichirou, I didn’t mean to be rude, I just, I remember you from the relay, back in elementary school, so--”

“Oh! Were you at that?”

“Y-yes! I didn’t participate in it, though, I was nowhere near good enough. You were all incredible in that race though! Matsuoka-senpai, and Nanase-san--everyone’s swimming was truly admirable! It’s why I wanted to keep swimming myself, even though I’m not very good.” Nitori rubs the back of his head, apparently embarrassed. Nagisa gives him a nudge.

“They are all really, great, aren’t they! Don’t be fooled, though,” he drops his voice down to a conspiratorial whisper, “Rin-chan wasn’t always that cool! He was actually a huge crybaby as a kid--in fact, he was the first to cry at his elementary school graduation!”

“R-really?” Nitori exclaims just a little too loudly, then blushes and looks around, like he’s just remembered they’re technically in the middle of a busy swimming pool. “Sorry,” he mutters, sounding a little ashamed. “Er, Hazuki-san, don’t you think it--isn’t it bad we’re standing over here, not swimming?” he says worriedly, but Nagisa just laughs and throws an arm over his shoulders.

“What are you talking about? We’re clearly just taking a water break, aren’t we?” Nagisa says with an exaggerated wink, and Nitori finally quirks a smile.

“Um, Hazuki-san?” Nitori asks, and Nagisa flashes him an encouraging smile to go on. “What was Matsuoka-senpai like as a child? If you don’t mind me asking!” he hastily adds, but Nagisa’s already seizing on his opportunity with an unrepentant grin.

“I don’t mind at all!” he practically sings. “Hmm--where should I begin--”

***

Rin can already see that this is going to end horribly, because nothing good can come about if Nagisa actually starts to talk about their childhood days, and he decides he has had _enough_.

“Oi, Nagisa!” he shouts from where he’d been hidden at the top of the stairs; as much as it pains to admit, Rin couldn’t bring himself to completely skip out on practice, although he’s severely regretting that now. Both Nagisa and Nitori immediately look up, and Nagisa breaks out into that worrying sort of grin that Rin has come to associate with nothing but trouble.

“Matsuoka-senpai!” Nitori exclaims, face wide with surprise. “I thought you were sick?” Rin ignores him in favor of scowling at Nagisa.

“Heya Rin-chan!” Nagisa calls out with an overenthusiastic wave. “Aii-chan and I were just talking about you!”

“A-Aii-chan?” Nitori sputters, and Nagisa turns his hundred watt grin back on him.

“We knew each other as kids, so that makes us friends, right? So it’s okay!”

“What kind of logic is that,” Rin mutters to himself, but he eventually takes pity on how woefully unprepared Nitori is for Nagisa, and shouts down, “Are you incapable of noticing when you’re being a pain in the ass, Nagisa?”

“You’re not exactly a walk in the park either, Rin-chan,” Nagisa pouts, and Rin honestly cannot tell whether he means it seriously or not. He snaps anyway.

“Yeah, well at least I’m not doing it to compensate for being the weakest link of the group,” he shouts back, and Nagisa’s smile actually slips for a moment before he seems to catch himself, but it’s not nearly as bright as before. Rin realizes he must’ve hit a weak point; he didn’t even know Nagisa had any weak points, and he’s so startled by the revelation that he can’t even bring himself to take advantage of it.

“Oh! Speaking of which,” Nagisa suddenly changes the subject completely, “I was wondering if you had any tips on swimming butterfly? Not for me, obviously, but I doubt you’d help Rei-chan directly, so I’m really asking for him! I mean you know how Rei-chan is--”

“I don’t, actually--”

“--But in any case, he’s hit a kind of stasis right now, and is being really hard on himself because of his obsession with perfection and all, so I was wondering if you’d help out!” Nagisa is the perfect picture of innocence as he looks up at Rin expectantly.

“If I help will you fucking leave me alone already?” he asks instead.

Nagisa gives him a long, hard look that suddenly doesn’t have an ounce of humor in it, before he simply says, “Yes.” It’s almost unnerving, and Rin’s going to blame that for why he agrees.

“Get in the pool,” he grumbles and heads down the stairs, ignoring Nagisa’s triumphant cheer, and curses his own stupidity all the way to the pool edge.

“Ehh, you’re not going to strip?” Nagisa asks as soon as Rin reaches him, honest-to-God disappointment coloring his voice, and rather than respond Rin shoves him in. It doesn’t quite have the effect he wants:  Nagisa manages to catch himself last minute so he doesn’t land directly on his back, and he somersaults under the water to bring himself right side up, laughing as soon as he breaks the surface and flings water everywhere.

“Rin-chan, that was mean!” he says between giggles, but Rin just glares down at him, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

Rin can tell exactly what Nagisa’s game is today, and he bites down on every pang of nostalgia that threatens to bubble up as he barks out criticisms of Nagisa’s butterfly stroke. The kid has improved from the last time they did this; it’s no longer a grasshopper, like when they were ten, but it’s definitely not a butterfly. Maybe a moth. Rin tells him as such.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nagisa asks with a whine, panting against the side of the pool, but Rin refuses to allow this go on any longer than it has to.

“I gave you my advice, now get lost,” he snaps rather than properly reply, and Nagisa lets out a sigh.

“Fine, fine,” he says, flops his head to the side, but he gives Rin one last smile before pushing himself back towards the water. “Thank you, Rin-chan,” he says, and the sheer amount of sincerity in his tone leaves Rin speechless, sarcastic response dying on his tongue.

And then Nagisa ducks under the water, swims beneath the lane dividers over to where his team has been practicing; Rin can see him grab onto Rei’s arm before he’s even surfaced, causing the other boy to yelp in fear, and Nagisa’s laughter echoes all the way through the pool.

“Matsuoka-senpai?” Nitori cautiously asks from somewhere behind, but Rin keeps his attention on where Nagisa is now gesturing wildly, presumably trying to convey everything Rin told him about his butterfly to Rei, and he absolutely does not feel a surge of jealousy at how easily Nagisa can flit from one thing to the next, without getting hung up over it at all.

“I’m going back to the dorm,” he mutters at last.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so really quickly I just want to say thank everyone who has enjoyed this story so far! It honestly has gotten a lot more hits than I was expecting, and so many lovely comments, and it makes me really happy to know that even if NagiRin is a small ship, there are still so many people who seem to like it as much as I do :') So, with that being said, here's the second chapter, and I really hope you all continue to enjoy!

Three days. It’s been three days of complete radio silence from Nagisa, and somehow Rin is even antsier than when Nagisa was texting him nonstop.

Rin honestly had not expected Nagisa to keep his promise--it’s not like there was anything stopping him from breaking it, after all--so the fact that he’s apparently staying true to his word is completely throwing him for a loop. He’s gotten so used to trying to ignore Nagisa that no longer having anything to ignore just feels _wrong_.

So he does what he always does when he feels like this:  he tries to turn the energy into something productive, and throws himself into working out.

He’s been running for a good hour before he finally allows himself a break, stopping outside a small convenience store to catch his breath and stretch out the cramp starting to build in his leg. It’s probably somewhat unhealthy to deal with stress like this, pushing himself to near exhaustion, but as long as it keeps him fit and focused on things that actually matter--finally proving to himself that hard work actually means something in the grand scheme of things, that he hasn’t been living his entire life _wrong_ \--then he sees no sense in complaining. He neither wants nor needs distractions, including Nagisa, and he’s going to keep running until he convinces himself of such.

It’s right then that Nagisa walks out the doors of the convenience store, shopping bag in hand. There’s a beat of silence as they both stare at each other in shock, and then Nagisa breaks out into a delighted grin.

“Oh, your hair’s tied up!” he says with far too much enthusiasm, and Rin snaps a hand up to the back of his suddenly overexposed neck. “Looks good!”

“Hmph.” Rin returns to stretching, only now with the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, and when he finally gives in and glances over, he is not surprised to see Nagisa still standing there, with what looks like some sort of strawberry flavored drink in hand.

“Do you have anything in there other than sweets?” he can’t stop himself from asking. Nagisa puffs up, offended.

“That’s rude! I bought seaweed too,” he says, like that somehow justifies it, and for some reason Rin’s brain immediately decides to picture the frankly disgusting combination of strawberry and seaweed together. He quickly shakes the thought off.

“Whatever,” he attempts to brush if off, but Rin can see the start of a teasing grin beginning to build on Nagisa’s face. He quickly turns away, and hates the part of him that finds it necessary to blush. So in order to preserve his sanity, he starts to jog away.

“Hey, Rin-chan!” Nagisa calls after him, and for some reason, Rin actually pauses to listen, although he at least doesn’t turn back. “Does this mean I can start talking to you again?”

Perhaps it’s because silence from Nagisa is strangely more disturbing than the incessant chatter that he’s now used to again, but Rin finds himself incapable of straight up saying no. So he flips Nagisa off over his shoulder instead, leaving it up to him, and he can tell by the Nagisa’s laughter that he’s going to take it as a yes.

***

It’s two in the morning, and Rin can’t sleep.

He’d blame the insomnia on Australia and changing time zones, except he’s been back in Japan for a while now, so really his body has no excuse to be this much of a bitch. So while he’s still mostly been ignoring Nagisa’s renewed energy in spamming him with texts, when his phone buzzes next to his head, he moves to read what it says.

_You should come down to the pool  (≧∇≦)/ and bring a swimsuit!! (｀ε´)_

Rin stares blearily at the text for a moment, and then sits straight up because what the _fuck_ how is Nagisa on school grounds at freaking _two in the morning_.

Rin hesitates for just a moment longer, then pulls himself out of bed because he’s not getting any sleep anyway. He shucks off his boxers in favor of jammers, then throws on a pair of sweats so he won’t look like a complete weirdo wandering the hallways in full swim gear if he gets caught. He spares one glance at Nitori to make sure he’s asleep, and slips out the door.

The pool is quiet when Rin walks in, and when he doesn’t see Nagisa anywhere, his mind automatically jumps to the worst case scenario that he’s been played. He’s just about to reach for his phone to send an angry _fuck you_ text to Nagisa when there’s a shout behind him, and Rin entirely fails to not jump.

“Rin-chan, you came!” Nagisa steps out of the shadows he very clearly had been hiding in, usual bright grin firmly in place. Rin promptly returns it with his usual scowl.

“You better have a damn good reason for waking me up,” he says, because there’s no need for Nagisa to know he couldn’t sleep; and yet, Nagisa’s grin makes him feel like he somehow knows anyway. “What do you want?”

Nagisa gives Rin a strangely appraising look, drinking in his rumpled sleeping clothes and his bedhead hair, and Rin gives his very best glare in return, prepared to fight whatever it is Nagisa says next. Nagisa looks him directly in the eye, and smiles.

“Let’s race!”

Rin blinks. “What?”

“Race!” Nagisa repeats, as though that explains it all. Rin can only continue to stare.

“You called me out at two in the morning, to race,” he can’t keep the incredulity out of his voice, although somewhere in the back of his mind, he thinks he should have seen this coming the moment Nagisa told him to wear his swimsuit.

“Yup!” Nagisa says cheerfully, like this is a totally normal thing for him to do; though for all Rin knows, it could be. “Why, you’re not _scared_ , are you?”

As much as Rin would like to be above these sorts of things, he can’t help but bristle at the obvious challenge. “All right, you want a race?” he growls out, already yanking his shirt up and over his head without pausing to think. “I’ll give you a fucking race!” He turns to glare once more at Nagisa, who is--

Watching.

Very intently, in fact, with a frankly concerning smile tugging at his lips, and without an ounce of shame.

Rin stops halfway through dropping his pants.

“It’s already obvious you’re going to lose, but swimming with your clothes on won’t do you any favors,” he snaps. Nagisa laughs and shrugs off his yellow hoodie.

“Just enjoying the show,” he says with a smile and a wink, and Rin can feel a frankly unnecessary amount of blood rush up to his face that he’s going to chalk up to surprise rather than _anything else_.

“Shut up and strip,” he demands rather than think about it further, but Nagisa’s responding look of glee somehow makes it all even worse.

“If you insist,” he sings and moves to take off the rest of his clothes; Rin has the brief, horrible thought that Nagisa might not be wearing anything underneath, but then his shorts hit the floor and Nagisa definitely has a pair of colorful jammers left on. Rin can’t quite hold back a sigh of relief.

“Disappointed?” Nagisa pipes up, and of fucking course he didn’t miss that. Rin walks off and sets himself up on the starting platform without a word. This time, he manages to stop himself from letting another relieved sigh as Nagisa follows after him, albeit not without another small laugh.

“Ready? Counting down from three!” Nagisa says. Rin doesn’t bother to nod, simply coils in further on himself, and turns his attention to the pool.

“Three, two, one, _GO_!”

It’s clear from the moment they both jump the gap in ability is far too much for Nagisa to overcome. Rin’s hit the wall and turning around before Nagisa’s even within a foot of it and he tears away to finish strong. He doesn’t bother holding back.

Judging by how out of breath Nagisa is when he finally finishes, he was trying his best, but it’s nowhere near enough if he wants to get close to touching Rin. Rin turns to gloat, only to be completely thrown by the fact that Nagisa is downright _beaming_.

“You really are incredible, Rin-chan!” he says between pants, looking over at Rin with nothing short of admiration. Rin quickly turns away. “Once more?”

“Wha--” Rin starts, turning right back to stare at Nagisa with surprise. “Are you serious? Are you that eager to lose?”

“You shouldn’t go around underestimating your opponent like that, Rin-chan. I might just surprise you!” The amount of confidence in Nagisa’s voice verges on the ridiculous, and Rin scoffs.

“We’ll see about that.”

***

Nagisa loses the next race, and the next, yet every time his hand hits the wall, he pauses just long enough to catch his breath, then turns to Rin with a smile and asks, “Once more?” And every time Nagisa asks, Rin pulls himself out for another lap, like if he lets this go on long enough Nagisa’s spirit will finally be exhausted, and he’ll realize how pointless all of this is. It’s not like the victories mean anything to Rin, after all; they don’t prove anything about his own abilities that he doesn’t already know.

And yet, that’s not entirely true, because at the last leg of each race, there’s a creeping feeling that suddenly starts to build at the back of Rin’s neck, like he’s no longer racing Nagisa but trying to run away from him. It’s a sensation he remembers vividly from the very first time Nagisa’d convinced him to race as kids:  a sudden surge of fear, like he really has underestimated him, and now he’s going to pay. Rin still wins each race, but by a steadily decreasing time difference, and he’s so much more out of breath than he was before; but Rin clamps down on his growing sense of unease and pushes himself harder--he refuses to stop until the feeling stops.

Caught up in his thoughts, he pushes himself out of the pool to return to the starting board before Nagisa can even ask about the next race, desperately ignoring the resulting laughter from down below. He will not allow himself to be intimidated by _Nagisa_ of all people, he will _not_.

Rin’s lost track of how many races they’ve had when all of a sudden, they hit the turn and Nagisa is suddenly no longer catching up to him, but instead is falling behind. The difference in time it takes to for them to finish is closer to what it was at the start, and there’s a strange bubbling of worry in his gut that makes him turn back to see Nagisa struggling noticeably to finish. It takes him longer than usual to catch his breath upon surfacing, each gasp tinged with a small whine of pain, and Rin has no idea what happened, but as much as he wants to ignore it, he doesn’t like it one bit.

“Nagisa--” he starts, though he doesn’t know where he would have gone with the sentence even if Nagisa hadn’t interrupted, because he barely gets the kid’s name out when he suddenly speaks up.

“Once more?” he asks, his usual grin in place, but there’s a certain amount of effort behind it that Rin doesn’t quite know how to point out; so he clamps down on any urge he may have to care, and pulls himself out to race.

It’s just like the first race:  the dive itself is enough to show Nagisa doesn’t stand a chance of fighting back, only now it’s due to injury rather than skill, because Rin is nothing short of positive that Nagisa fucked up something on that turn back then and all Rin can think is _you shouldn’t have let him swim_. Rin finishes as fast as he can, as though him finishing faster means Nagisa can stop sooner, but it doesn’t work like that at all; Nagisa finishes even farther behind than before, not even trying to hide the little whimpers that occasionally slip out as he sucks in each breath, and Rin feels like he could drown in the guilt that suddenly surges up inside of him. There’s a long period of silence when Nagisa finally hits the wall, and Rin hates the fact that he has no idea how to break it, instead letting it drag out as Nagisa’s gasps for air echo throughout the pool.

“You know, Rin-chan,” Nagisa suddenly says, his voice oddly hushed, and Rin flinches back. “I don’t think I’ve ever been the _best_ at something. Like, I’m never _bad_ , I know I’m good, but I always chase after people I know are better than me, see how close I can get to them, measure my own progress by how far I’d need to go to catch up. But y’know, I dunno know what I’d do with myself if I ever did catch up, or even was _better_ , ‘cause how am I supposed to measure myself then? Besides, there’s just something fun about giving chase!” He beams, and there’s a strange ringing building in Rin’s ears; he really doesn’t like where this is going, yet he can’t find the voice to tell Nagisa to shut up, to let this particular part of himself be, and he knows what Nagisa’s going to say next before he even begins to ask. “Say, Rin-chan, after you move on from Haru-chan, who will you chase after next?”

Rin opens his mouth once, twice, and still can’t come up with anything to say, hates the fact that he doesn’t have an answer to this. And Nagisa, being as sharp as he is, doesn’t miss the struggle, and gives him a gentle smile.

“Shall we go once more?”

Rin knows how bad an idea it would be to agree to this:  Nagisa must have pulled a muscle, or twisted something when turning; he’s probably not used to pushing himself so hard for so long, trying to keep up with someone like Rin; his body was probably unprepared and now he’s paying the consequences like the dumbass he is. And yet, he knows if he stays here, Nagisa will continue to needle at issues he knows he has but can’t figure out how to escape from, no matter how hard he tries; but before he can even begin to try to formulate an answer, Nagisa begins to pull himself out of the pool. He’s obviously intending to take Rin’s prolonged silence as a yes, and Rin makes a snap choice.

Nagisa’s goggles are pushed up against his hair, leaving nothing around his neck for Rin to grab, so Rin opts for his shoulder instead, seizes it hard enough to bruise and unceremoniously yanks Nagisa back into the water.

“Will you cut it out already?” he snaps over the ensuing splash and Nagisa’s shout of surprise. “How many fucking times is it going to take for you to realize you don’t stand a chance? I’m not racing you anymore, it’s just plain stupid! Give it up!”

Rin tries to gather all of his anger into his glare and his grip on Nagisa’s shoulder, refusing to look away from his wide eyes even as he can practically feel Nagisa mentally pick his words apart, work out the meaning that he can’t just say:  _I know you’re hurt and I’m not letting you make it worse_. And yet for all his efforts, the moment Nagisa smiles, gentle and soft, Rin can feel it wither up and die inside of him, leaving a tangled mess of emotions that he really does not want to sort through on top of everything else that has been weighing down on his brain. Maybe that’s why when Nagisa reaches a hand forward, Rin is expecting a slap rather than a careful touch on the cheek; it’s so much easier to assume people will treat him with anger and disdain, since he’s already so angry with himself, and he’s still tensing up for a fight when Nagisa tugs him down and kisses him.

It’s nothing more than a soft press of lips, yet somehow it’s still enough to completely short-circuit Rin’s brain. Nagisa pulls away just as swiftly as he’d brought them together, an odd, almost mischievous glint in his eye, but Rin is too stuck on trying to recognize what just actually happened to properly react; he’s distantly aware that he’s staring, but somehow that doesn’t register as nearly as important as _did he seriously just kiss **Nagisa**_?

He’s fairly certain Nagisa says something to him but the pounding in his head drowns it out, there’s too much blood rushing up in his ears for him to understand. He faintly registers Nagisa flashing him one last grin before he pulls himself out of the pool, and when he doesn’t reappear on the starting platform Rin can only assume he’s left. It hits him, quite suddenly, that he probably shouldn’t have let him leave, that he might be walking away with the wrong impression--not that Rin can even begin to fathom what the right impression is supposed to be--but by the time he gathers himself enough to whip around and at least partially haul himself out of the pool, Nagisa is already out of sight.

Rin is suddenly viciously aware that his face is absolutely _burning_.

It takes a very long time for him to finally pull himself out of the pool.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the fic lives up to its M rating! It's really not explicit in any sense of the word, but still something to look forward to I guess? :'D In any case, here's the final part, so I hope you all enjoy!!

It’s nearly three in the morning by the time Rin finally gets back to the dorm, and he only now seems to remember he has class starting at eight. Still, it’s better to focus all of his energy on that rather than _anything_ that may have happened back at the pool--

His ears are already burning again by the time he’s thrown himself in bed, curled up as far as he can under the blankets in hopes of shutting the rest of the world out. It doesn’t stop him from thinking, though.

Even more than he hates how insistent his brain is on replaying the kiss over and over in his head, he hates the fact that it’s Nagisa-- _Nagisa_ , of all the fucking people--who has affected him this much; Nagisa, the overly cheerful, overly honest, little brother of the group, who somehow managed to become more sly and manipulative as he grew older without losing his innocent appearance at all. Nagisa, who’s bothersome and persistent and eager and so full of energy it’s almost exhausting just watching him go on and on, _Nagisa_ , who’s been down near stalking him for the past few weeks, spamming his phone and teasing him and picking fights, and who twisted his ankle or jacked up his knee or _something_ because he wanted to race Rin, and Rin just let him walk away.

There’s a sharp twist of guilt that very nearly manages to drown out the embarrassment Rin has been practically suffocating in ever since he left the pool, and he curls in further on himself, chants over and over in his head that he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care, he _doesn’t_ \--

Rin throws off his covers and seizes his phone, punching the keys as he slams out a pissed off text to Makoto about how _Nagisa is a fucking idiot and hurt himself don’t let him swim._ After a moment of thought, he forwards the message to Gou too, and hurls his phone across the room so he doesn’t have to see if anyone replies.

***

While he knows it’s hypothetically possible to function on two hours of sleep, Nagisa has found himself struggling to stay awake all day. It’s not like he doesn’t know why--it had taken him nearly two hours to sneak out of Samezuka and make his way back home, with a hurt ankle to boot, and after what felt like mere minutes in bed he had to get right back up and go to school. He supposes he could have gone to Samezuka earlier to carry out his little plan, but thanks to his sisters being home this week he hadn’t been able to sneak out until late, and thus he hadn’t gotten the chance to go to bed until nearly five. He’s already been told off by two of his teachers for nodding off in class, and he hasn’t heard anything from Rin so he doesn’t know how well his gamble has worked yet, and really, all Nagisa wants to do at this point is go home and _sleep_.

Nagisa doesn’t bother to stifle a yawn and slumps in his seat as he waits for his last class to end. Hopefully swimming practice will wake him up a bit.

Except he doesn’t get to swim at all.

Nagisa practically sleepwalks through stripping out of his uniform and putting his jammers on, since no one actually wears them under their pants except for Haru, and he drifts out of the lockers to the starting board without even checking to see anyone else is there yet or not; but just as he steps up to dive in, there’s a shout, and the next thing he knows he’s being bodily lifted into the air, up and away from the pool. He blinks.

“Nagisa, wait, you can’t go in!”

The only person with arms this big is Makoto, and Nagisa does his best to look behind him with his feet still dangling a good foot off the ground.

“Mako-chan?” he asks, and then it registers what Makoto actually said. “Ehhh, why not!”

“You’ve hurt yourself, haven’t you?” Makoto has switched to what Nagisa has quietly dubbed his _mom voice_ , and it doesn’t even register why it might be strange that Makoto knows this as he cringes from the guilt of being found out. “You should know better than to swim with an injury, Nagisa.”

“So it is true, then!” Gou suddenly calls out from behind the two of them, and Makoto suddenly seems to remember he’s still holding Nagisa and carefully places him back on the ground, away from the starting board. “Honestly, what did you do, Nagisa-kun? Do you know, Makoto-senpai?”

Rather than answer, Nagisa lets out a small sigh and wanders off to the side of the pool, because if he’s not going to swim then he may as well sleep. Haru drifts past him in the water, as if to rub it in.

“How did you know Nagisa was hurt, Gou-chan?” Makoto asks.

“I got a text from Onii-chan at like three in the morning saying I shouldn’t let Nagisa-kun swim--how did _you_ know?”

“I got a text from Rin too.” Makoto glances over to Nagisa, who’s now listening with his full attention, eyes wide.

“ _Rin-chan_ told you?” he asks, unable to keep the wonder from creeping into his voice, and he watches Gou and Makoto exchange a glance.

“Yeah,” Makoto says slowly. “Nagisa, did something happen between you and Rin--”

Nagisa isn’t entirely sure if Makoto simply trails off or if the surprised shout that he can’t quite stop from bursting out drowns the rest of his question out, but there’s a grin pulling at his lips, and there’s a sense of triumph bubbling inside of him and warming him from the inside out; for the first time all day, Nagisa feels awake all the way down to the tips of his toes, and he can’t help but burst out laughing from the sheer delight of knowing that he’s _won_.

***

Rin’s been waiting all day for his phone to buzz with oblivious cheer that he’s gotten a new message, and Nagisa does not disappoint.

Rin has been filled with far too much pent-up anger and nervous energy to feel tired despite his late last night, but it’s done shit-all for his concentration in class, and he desperately hopes nothing important happened because he absorbed absolutely nothing all day, far too stuck on whether he was supposed to contact Nagisa about last night or if he should wait or if he even wants this to be a thing at _all_.

Luckily, Nagisa, like he always seems to, takes the initiative and messages Rin first. Or maybe not so luckily, because Rin has absolutely no clue how the hell he’s supposed to take this text.

_Its Rin-chans fault I didnt get to swim today, so you better take responsibility for that!! (｀Д´*) i went to your pool last time so you should come to mine ~ !!＼（^０＾）／_

While Rin feels he can safely say this means Gou and Makoto got his three a.m. text about Nagisa and acted accordingly, he has no idea what he’s supposed to say in response to the rest. He figures it’s safest to message Nagisa back as much.

_The fuck do you expect me to do._

_Take responsibility (๑・ω-)～♥”_

Rin stops checking his phone after that. He does, however, storm out of his room under the pretense of going for a jog, ignoring Nitori’s worried pesterings of _Matsuoka-senpai why is your face so red_ in favor of slamming the door just a touch to hard, and if his jog happens to take him in the direction of Iwatobi, then so be it.

***

Nagisa is waiting for him in the locker rooms, mischievous smile already in place, and it makes Rin want to bitch him out even more for being so deliberately vague with his texts; Rin had waited nearly fifteen minutes by the pool before thinking to check inside. He ignores Nagisa’s gesture of invitation to sit next to him on the bench, and chooses to stand glowering over him instead.

“You better have a damn good reason for this,” he growls, and Nagisa’s grin just grows wider.

“You wanna sit down?” he asks instead. Rin can feel a vein in his neck twitch.

“No!”

Nagisa gives a contemplative hum and tilts his head to the side.

“But this could be a lot more difficult if you’re not sitting down,” Nagisa says plainly, but the amused quirk tugging at the edge of his lips gives him away, and Rin refuses to fall into this again. Except Nagisa’s already reaching up and tugging him down, and Rin is not resisting nearly as much as he should be.

This kiss is just as short as the one in the pool, but Nagisa lets his hand linger on Rin’s neck this time, deliberately tugging at the soft strands of hair that suddenly feel like they’re standing on end. Rin employs every bit of willpower he has left to keep up his glare.

“See?” Nagisa says, as though Rin isn’t currently trying his absolute damnedest to not fall apart mentally. It’s concerning how badly he’s losing. “Your back’s all bent at a weird angle like this, that can’t be comfortable!”

“What are you trying to do,” Rin manages to force out of his throat, but it comes out so hushed that it defeats any possible purpose of trying to appear put together, and Nagisa’s wide grin shows just how aware he is of this fact.

“Win you back of course!” Nagisa downright chirps, and Rin can feel the back of his neck burn where Nagisa’s lightly dragging his fingertips. He can’t stop himself from glancing away, face feeling annoyingly hot.

“By what, bugging the crap out of me? How’s that supposed to work?”

“Worked pretty well far as I can see,” Nagisa notes mildly, and Rin knows he has to be bright red by now. He’s about to snap back, except he’s being pulled down again and Nagisa holds him there for a much longer time than before. Rin isn’t sure how to feel about the fact that by time he pulls back he’s out of breath. “Do you like this method better?”

“That’s not why--” Rin cuts himself off when his voice comes out ragged, and the already rampant embarrassment entirely fails to dissipate when Nagisa promptly laughs.

“Always the romantic, hm, Rin-chan?” he hums, running a hand down Rin’s neck all the way to the small of his back, and then Rin is somehow sitting on the bench.

Everything is moving far faster than it probably should be, but Nagisa is a concerningly good kisser, and Rin’s brain is having a difficult time trying to figure out why that should be a bad thing. And in any case, any chance he may have had at talking himself out of this is completely thrown out the window when Rin doesn’t so much move on top of Nagisa as Nagisa wriggles his way underneath him, hooks a leg around his waist to align their hips, and _grinds_.

Rin pretty much gives up trying to rationalize anything past that point.

It’s a little weird thinking of Nagisa as being hard, but he’s doing a very good job of convincing Rin that it’s a good thing. Nagisa pulls him in for another kiss that’s all teeth and tongue and he is far too good at this building friction thing; everything is too hard and too fast, and the most Rin can do is grip the edges of the bench in an effort to not fall off. It really doesn’t help that Nagisa is just as vocal now as he is ever, letting out breathy moans and noises of encouragement even as he’s doing most of the work, and the way his arms are wrapped tight around Rin’s neck and shoulders is making it distinctly hard to breathe.

“Fuck--” Rin grits his teeth at the involuntary curse, and all of a sudden the recognition of his own voice is dragging him sharply back into reality. He shouldn’t be doing this, he really shouldn’t be doing this, and with Nagisa of all people, dammit, why does it always end up being _Nagisa_. Rin’s supposed to be better than this, or maybe worse, or at the very least undeserving, and it feels like something in him breaks at the thought. Nagisa pushes up against him, and he freezes.

Even in the midst of sex, Rin’s sudden lack of reciprocation is enough to draw Nagisa’s attention away from dragging his nails across Rin’s shoulder blades, and after a moment of raking his gaze over Rin’s obviously panicked expression, he frowns.

“No,” he says suddenly, and claps his hands over Rin’s cheeks, squeezing them, and Rin sputters, face burning where Nagisa is holding it. “No bad thoughts.”

“I--” he starts, tries to protest, but any further thoughts about stopping are drowned out by a groan that slips out at a particularly hard grind, and Nagisa shifts from his mouth to his neck and bites down.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Rin swears again, though this time the resultant wave of heat leaves his heart pounding, even as it feels uncomfortably tight in his throat, and he can feel Nagisa grin against his oversensitive skin.

“It’s okay,” he murmurs, moving from Rin’s neck down to his collarbone, and Rin entirely fails to hold back a startled gasp and jerks his hips down on instinct. “See? It’s okay, it’s good, it’s really good--” Nagisa emphasizes the point with a light nip that sends Rin squirming, “--so don’t worry, okay?”

Rin can’t respond with anything more coherent than a groan, his entire body feeling like it’s about to burn up. He’s close, goddammit, he’s pathetically close considering they couldn’t have possibly been going at it like this for very long, and then Nagisa pulls away and gasps against his ear.

“Say, Rin-chan, Rin-chan, I need to ask you something.”

“What--” Rin barely gasps out, though he’s rather distracted by the way Nagisa shifts his knee so that their hips are just barely not touching. The frustrated whine that spills from Rin’s throat is downright embarrassing, but he’s so frustrated that he’s not coming that he can’t even bring himself to care.

Nagisa lets out a rather breathless laugh, his cheeks stained pink, but he holds fast at Rin’s unintentional grind down, trying to regain the friction from before. “See, we’re going to the aquarium this weekend--”

“ _Why_.” It comes out far more pathetic than Rin would have liked, but if Nagisa is seriously going to pull this shit in the middle of making him fall into all of this, sounding in control is one of the last things on Rin mind right now. Nagisa’s answering grin and obviously deliberate tangling of his fingers in Rin’s hair reveal nothing Rin doesn’t already know; he dimly wonders if there’s anything Nagisa does that isn’t somehow inexplicably doing on purpose.

“You’ll come, right?” Nagisa shifts just enough that Rin is able to buck down to get the pressure he so desperately needs, letting out a groan, pushing hard enough that Nagisa actually slides backwards on the bench. Thankfully, Nagisa doesn’t seem dissuaded in the slightest, eagerly responding with a laugh and a grind back. He pulls Rin back down to bite at his jaw.

“So that’s a yes?” Nagisa’s pace is starting to grow increasingly frantic, though Rin isn’t sure which one of them is responsible for the sudden spike in heat that Rin can feel growing in his belly. “You should come,” he keeps going, even as his voice breaks with a particularly eager thrust, “I really want you to come--”

“Yes fine whatever, just _stop talking_ ,” Rin finally blurts out. Nagisa laughs and reaches a hand down between them, and the world temporarily goes white.

The first thing Rin is able to process when he comes down from his high is his legs are seriously protesting having to hold such an awkward position for so long, half kneeling on the hard wooden bench, half straddling it. He isn’t entirely sure if Nagisa finished, but considering how he’s contentedly nuzzling at Rin’s neck, he decides it’s safe to assume the best.

He knows as soon as he cognizant enough to let everything that just happened sink in, he’s never going to be able to look at Nagisa the same way ever again, but for now, the kid’s bright grin is familiar enough that it might actually be okay. There’s a sudden burst of somewhat obnoxious music from the ground, and Nagisa reaches into his bag to pull out his phone.

“Ahh, I should get home,” he says with a dramatic sigh, but then his usual grin lights right back up. “We should to this again! And don’t forget, Saturday at ten!” Nagisa bounces up, kisses him on the cheek, and prances off towards the door. Rin manages to recover just in time to blurt out the question that’s been buzzing incessantly in the back of his head since the start.

“Why?”

“Because you’re Rin-chan!” Nagisa replies without missing a beat, and with a one last grin and a wink he slips out the door, leaving Rin to bury his suddenly burning face in his equally burning hands.

Maybe Nagisa as a distraction isn’t such a bad thing.

***

If Nagisa was more willing to listen to his less optimistic side, he might have warranted there is a distinct possibility that Rin won’t show. 10:00 ticks by to 10:01, and Rei is already starting to question who exactly they’re supposedly waiting for, in part because Nagisa has yet to actually mention he may have attempted to seduce Rin into coming along. As such, the shock of red hair at the door is both a welcome relief and a rush of triumph, and without thinking Nagisa lets out a loud, “Yes!”

Rin freezes on the spot before twisting his head around with an expression that looks like it got caught between being a grimace and a glare, his ears starting to blend with his bangs. He looks like he’s sorely tempted to turn around and leave. So Nagisa does the logical thing and darts forward, seizing him by the arm before Rin can take the chance to actually carry that thought through, and he drags him back over to where the rest of the team is waiting.

“We’re good to go now!” he announces proudly, and while it’s not unexpected that’s he’s met with utter silence, it is a little disheartening that even Haru is staring at him like he just pulled a rabbit out of thin air. Rin shifts slightly, obviously uncomfortable under the scrutiny of his old teammates, but he eventually manages to raise a hand in some sort of greeting, which Nagisa smiles encouragingly at.

“Onii-chan!” Gou breaks first, staring wide-eyed at her brother. “What are you doing here?” Rin reaches back to ruffle his hair unconsciously, which, Nagisa is pleased to note, has been tied back into a ponytail.

“Er, Nagisa--” Rin waves his hand vaguely, accidentally catches Nagisa’s eye, and then turns bright red. Nagisa doesn’t bother to hide his delight. He clings a little tighter to Rin’s arm, grinning encouragingly at his friends.

“Really?” Gou says after a beat, and Rin lets out a rather indignant sputter that only gets worse when Haru gives a sagely nod of understanding, and then worse still when Rei offers Rin a look so full of pity and understanding that Rin looks like he’s about ready to drown himself right then and there. Makoto just looks very confused. Nagisa doesn’t think he’s ever felt so light in his life.

He should invite Nitori and Seijuurou to join next time. Then the whole gang really will be back together, new alongside the old. The thought brings a smile to his face that only grows wider when Rin glances over at him, face still tinged pink even as he does his best to look resigned.

Nagisa can’t wait to get started.

***

“It must be like looking into a mirror,” Nagisa comments lightly with a nudge to Rin’s  shoulder, watching a rather intimidating looking shark swim lazily by. Rin narrows his eyes in scrutiny and then turns to Nagisa with a scowl that distinctly lacks bite.

“I don’t look like that,” he drawls, shooting a glare at Haru when he lets out a slight scoff next to him. It hadn’t taken much effort to drag Rin over to the shark tanks after that, even as he made a show of protesting as loud as he could without actually causing a scene, likely not helped by Gou grumbling to herself about how she _knew there was a reason they'd been texting as of late_. Still, Nagisa had watched him fall into conversation surprisingly easily with everyone else once they’d collected themselves enough to follow along:  he ended up bickering with Haru over one thing or another while Makoto looked on with a fond--albeit still somewhat confused--smile, and even started a lively debate with Rei at a point over the aesthetics of fish until Gou had shot him a rather judgmental look.

“I’ve had my tongue in your mouth, I know what your teeth are like,” Nagisa returns without even having to think about it. There’s a beat that passes amongst everyone within earshot, followed by the sudden crash of something falling over, and _now_ , it seems, Makoto gets it. Haru looks about as close to voluntarily laughing as he ever has at Makoto’s wave of hasty apologies, and Nagisa turns back to Rin with as bright a grin as he’s ever had before, throwing in a wink as Gou simply sighs in the background.

The brilliant shade of red that takes over Rin’s face is absolutely worth the smack he receives to the back of the head a second later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that! Once again, I seriously want to thank everyone who's read this and liked it, and left kudos and comments and everything else. Like I mentioned before, I was not expecting so much lovely feedback on this story, and at this point I can only hope this third part has lived up to the two that have preceded it. Thank you so much once again for reading, and I really really hope you enjoyed!


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